Points leader Eli Tomac takes third supercross lites victory in a row for GEICO Honda team

GEICO Honda rider Eli Tomac scored his third consecutive Supercross victory Saturday night at a sold-out Angels Stadium, padding his lead in the Lites West standings from 15 to 22 points with four races left on the schedule.

“We got the turkey — three in a row,” Tomac said. “You never expect that to happen because it’s so tough out here but the GEICO Honda is running strong and my riding has been there. Once I figured out my starts, the wins started coming.”

After running the best time of all 250 riders in the Heat race, Tomac blasted from the gate in the Main and earned the Nuclear Cowboyz $1,000 Holeshot award for leading the pack into the first turn. Fellow Honda rider Cole Seely then slipped by and led for four laps before crashing, which allowed Tomac to assume the lead. He never looked back from there, riding away to a comfortable win over Seely, Marvin Musquin and reigning champion Dean Wilson.

“I got my first holeshot of the year, which was very cool, but Seely got around me on that second straightaway and the chase was on,” Tomac said. “We kind of yo-yo’ed for the first few laps. I would push him, then he was pulling me. We were very close. Then he made his mistake and I got around him. From there I just knew I needed to ride solid and I could get the win. This was a tough course. It was a little bit longer than normal and the whoops were very hard. It was a case of trying to ride smart and protect my position.”

Superstar Kevin Windham turned in a solid sixth-place result on his GEICO Honda 450CRF. He is now fifth in the points, just behind multi-time champion James Stewart.

“I had a great battle out there for most of the Main, it was just for sixth place instead of the lead,” Windham said. “Davi Millsaps and I just went at it and I was able to get past him there in the second half and hold the spot. I needed a slightly better start and things could have been different. It seems like we’re in a position to do something every race but we haven’t found the podium yet. I think we’re close. It’s just a matter of getting the breaks.”

Fill-in rider Gavin Faith earned a spot in the Main with an eighth place finish in the second Heat race but struggled with the demanding course and finished 19th overall.

The circuit moves to Qualcomm Stadium in San Diego for next Saturday’s race, the sixth of the 2012 season.